Monday, November 23, 2015

News Round-Up: November 15 - 21

Climbing Toward the World’s First Rope-less Elevator System
Almost
one year ago, elevator manufacturer ThyssenKrupp announced its plans to
develop the world’s first rope-free elevator, MULTI, which promised to
convey building occupants not only vertically, but horizontally, as
well. Now, it boasts the first fully functional model, and it’s working
and moving as planned. Unveiled yesterday at the ThyssenKrupp Innovation
Center in Spain, the 1:3-scale model features a pair of 32-foot-high
shafts shared by four cabs to demonstrate linear motor technology, which
is based on magnetic levitation (Maglev) trains. Source:Architizer

These Cities Of The Future Would Be Built Entirely Of Bamboo
What
if cities were surrounded by pollution-sucking bamboo forests, and
built from bamboo instead of steel? ... As the plant grows—as much as a
foot a day—it acts like an air purifier, generating up to 35% more
oxygen than a similar stand of trees, while absorbing the same amount of
carbon dioxide. As it's harvested, it automatically regrows without
being replanted. And in a building, it's two to three times stronger
than a steel beam of a similar weight. Source:Fast Co. Exist

MIT's Experimental 3D-Printed Sneaker Shape-Shifts To Fit Your Foot
At
the moment, 3D printing is still mostly about experimentation. While it
hasn't quite taken off to revolutionize the way consumer products are
made just yet, it does offer a lot of exciting, innovative ideas,
especially in the realm of sneakers. MIT's Self-Assembly Lab, a group
focused on research into "active" materials, is working in collaboration
with product designers Christophe Guberan and Carlo Clopath on one of
the most unique footwear possibilities involving 3D printing: It's a
shoe that can be "programmed" to match the contours of your foot. Source:Quartz

7 Smart Ways to Design Housing That's Actually Affordable
There's
a big difference between affordable housing and housing that is
affordable. Affordable housing is the government-subsidized kind. The
latter, on the other hand, describes the "ways that architects or
engineers have reduced the cost of owning a house, renting a house, or
constructing a house," says Marc Norman, who recently curated an exhibit
on the subject at The Center for Architecture in New York City. Source:Wired

Design 3D-Printed Wearables By Pinching And Poking On-Skin Projections
Tactum
extracts features from the user's body to create an interactive digital
geometry that is projected onto the skin. This takes the form of bands
of light on the user's arm, which is otherwise in darkness. By touching
these on-skin projections, the user can manipulate their shapes and
design a personalized wearable. For example, they can pinch a projection
to alter its thickness, drag projections to change their position or
run their finger along a set of bands of light, stopping in-between to
to create an empty space. Once they are satisfied with a design, users
can access bespoke ready-to-print and ready-to-wear wearables. Source:PSFK

Nissan Forms Full-Size Origami Car With 2,000 Folded Paper Sheets
To
celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Nissan Juke, British artist Owen
Gildersleeve collaborated with the Japanese automobile manufacturer to
create a life-size origami replica of the SUV. The unique sculpture
features 2,000 folded pieces of paper and took more than 200 hours to
make, hand built to the exact dimensions of the current Juke. The
origami vehicle includes the same design elements — wheel fenders,
lights and grill — that give the real-life model its distinctive
quality. symbolically, the project nods to Nissan’s Japanese heritage
and references the very first steps of car design, getting an idea onto
paper. Source:DesignBoom

Architects Say This Apartment Complex Is The Year's Best Building–Here's Why
What
do villages look like in a world where most people live in cities? Can
close-knit communities even exist in the megapolis of the future? The
Interlace, an unusual apartment building that was just crowned Building
of the Year, thinks so. ... Awards aside, it's easy to see the future in
the Interlace. This is a building that anyone who has ever lived in a
city–and felt alone there–can relate to. It’s an attempt to make tall,
dense apartment buildings capable of harboring healthy communities, like
barnacles clinging to a concrete wall. And it does so with some really,
really clever ideas about massing. Source:Gizmodo

3D Printing Process Helps Blind People "See" Art
New
York-based company 3Dphotoworks is aiming to make the 2D world of art
accessible to blind people using a 3D printing process that turns
paintings, drawings and photographs into 3D printed tactile fine art.
Developed in collaboration with the National Federation of the Blind,
the process of 3D tactile printing was inspired by the works on
neuroplasticity by Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita, a neuroscientist at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. Source:GizMag

Hong Kong's High Rises Are Best Seen From The Ground
Some
7.2 million people live in Hong Kong, a region that covers 426 square
miles. Cramming that many people into so small an area requires building
up. And up. And up. Peter Stewart's series Stacked provides a dizzying view of the high-rises most Hongkongers call home. Source:Wired

The Business Of Design Success: How Did BIG Get So... Big?
The
Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) seems to have an outsized impact in all it
does. The Copenhagen-based design firm turns conventions and assumptions
upside down and combines contrasting possibilities in outrageously
bold, imaginative and playful ways. ... The world has taken note.
Whether in praise or criticism, the architectural, cultural and business
media tend to strike a heroic tone when describing the firm’s work:
radical, ambitious, bold, confident. In short…BIG. Source:ArchDaily

How Robots Are Building A 3D-Printed Metal Bridge In Amsterdam
The
quaint, cobblestoned city of Amsterdam is about to get a modern
addition: a 3D-printed footbridge. The canal-spanning bridge, which is
on track to be completed by 2017, is the brainchild of MX3D, a tech
startup based in the Dutch capital. The bridge will be constructed
entirely by robots that can "print" complex steel objects in midair. The
autonomous bots are like mechanical, torch-wielding welders that melt
together layer upon layer of steel to form a solid object, said Tim
Geurtjens, MX3D's co-founder and chief technology officer. Source:LiveScience

In These Photographs, New York City Is Drowning
Photographer
Zev Schmitz took a deep breath and created an incredible architecture
photoseries of New York City. Every photo was taken from the waters that
surround Manhattan. It's a bit like seeing the near-death experience of
a drowning person. But it also feels like you’re seeing a majestic new
world emerging. The fast-moving cold current and underwater camera
housing caused difficulties in shooting. But the real challenge came
from commuter ferries, barges, and frequent stops by the NYPD and U.S.
Coast Guard. Source:Gizmodo

Architects Embrace "The Beginning Of The Timber Age"
Wood
is taking over from steel and concrete as the architectural wonder
material of the 21st century, with architects praising its
sustainability, quality and speed of construction. New types of
engineered timber that are considerably stronger and more stable than
regular wood are allowing architects to build bigger and higher, with
timber skyscrapers now a real prospect. Source:Dezeen

Algorithmic Clothing Lets You Pick The Exact Design Scheme You'd Like To Flaunt
Print
All Over Me, a digital community that’s in the business of creating
clothing and objects, and the Processing Foundation, a nonprofit program
dedicated to offering software literacy to artists and visual literacy
to techies, have teamed up. The partnership consists of algorithmic
designs that are picked by costumers dynamically in a way that promotes
both organizations. Source:PSFK

The 7 Ages Of Modern Concrete
Over
the past century, the perception of concrete has more dramatically
fluctuated than that of any other material. At various times and
locations across the globe, this ubiquitous substance has experienced
life as architecture's most loved and loathed material, simultaneously
its most iconic and its most divisive. The humble mixture of aggregate
and cement has inspired entire theoretical movements within the
profession and helped alter entire cities in the process. As a
consequence, many concrete buildings now stand as powerful social
metaphors that reflect the very identity of the people that designed,
built, and lived within them. Source:Architizer